For people who would like to do more gardening but live in a short growing season area, a hobby greenhouse is the answer. A hobby greenhouse is not large enough to produce vegetables or flowers on a commercial basis. It will, however, give you a place for a tomato plant or two and some fresh greens even if you live in the northern regions. Greenhouse enthusiasts even have their own association, called the Hobby Greenhouse Association, which publishes a quarterly magazine. The organization also sponsers events and helps individuals connect to get help with the aspect of gardening that they are interested in, whether it’s growing cacti or saving seeds.

If you are in the market for a hobby greenhouse, there are several types on the market. The smallest type is not large enough to walk into and must be accessed from the outside. It resembles an old-fashioned phone booth made all of g

ass and outfitted with shelves. This type is designed to fit as many plants as possible in as small a place as possible. The shelves are made of glass to allow as much light as possible to reach plants on the lower shelves. Another inexpensive version of this sort of hobby greenhouse is shelving covered with a zippered tent of clear plastic. This sort of arrangement is great for the small-scale hobby gardener wanting a place to keep her flowers or houseplant starts.

There are a variety of designs of hobby greenhouse that are large enough to walk into but made entirely of clear glass or plastic. They are often about the same size as a small storage building. Some independent builders have started making these to sell locally. Among national brands, one of the nicest is called the “Solar Prism.” It is called this because of it’s unique construction. This hobby greenhouse is made of a single piece of durable clear plastic which is designed to work like tiny prisms side by side. They trap the rays of the sun and shoot them back into the greenhouse at all angles. For this reason, these little greenhouses are said to glow when the weather is cloudy.

Better hobby greenhouses are equipped with automatic sensors that open vents which allow ventilation and keep the interior temperatures from getting too high. These are a great labor saver, but can get expensive. Another benefit sometimes found in nicer greenhouses is a built in irrigation or misting system. Members of the Hobby Greenhouse Association, or HGA, have invented many interesting designs of greenhouses.

If gardening is your hobby, greenhouse growing will interest you. With a greenhouse, you can have the earliest tomatoes and salad greens all year. You can also start seedlings for the main garden early in the spring when outdoor temperatures would kill them. A hobby greenhouse can be a good investment.

Share this:

Choosing The Right Greenhouse Design

When one has a greenhouse, it means that one never has to quit gardening just because of weather conditions. You can keep on propagating cuttings and seeds and grow several plant varieties whatever the season.

When choosing a greenhouse, select a greenhouse style that matches the design of your home and the layout of your garden. Weather conditions should also be taken into account, as when your area experiences heavy snows during the winter, most likely you will not select a flat or straight roof design, rather a roof that will allow the snow to slide off easily.

The standard free-standing with curved or peaked roof greenhouse up to now is very popular that can be found in so many gardens. The rectangular or square shape permits for utmost growing space for plants, usually designed with benches on the sides and at the back.

Lean-to or home or wall attached greenhouses designs are manufactured and used when there is limited space at the backyard. These greenhouse designs are very accessible and convenient for connecting much needed water and power supply.

When choosing a certain design in the market, the “sky’s the limit”. Small solariums of various designs are widely available, medium and large sized greenhouses and even prefabricated greenhouse kits for easy installation.

Here are some greenhouse designs:

1. Gable greenhouse. This design type usually is attached to a wall or garage or any structure utilizing only half the gable’s actual gable des

gn. Generally, this type has flat roof panels but slightly sloping and vertical sidewalls. At times, the gable types of greenhouse are also attached to another greenhouse employing the use of the end wall rather than sidewall.

2. Barn style greenhouse. This design type is, as the name suggests shaped similar to a barn having wide roof and interior and with shorter walls. This design is usually incorporated in a garden of country setting or theme or a rustic garden appeal. This greenhouse design can be attached to another greenhouse or can be beautifully constructed in a garden freestanding.

3. Dome greenhouse. This design is identical to a dome, meaning it is half a ball and placed directly on land. This design can not be attached to a structure and only can be constructed as a freestanding type of greenhouse, as this design has no sidewalls. This type of greenhouse is a bit expensive to make due to the many pieces of different glazing that generally are needed to complete this design shape.

5. Gothic style greenhouse. This design type has a very historical gothic appearance. The walls and roof are formed in such a manner as to create a continuous form, allowing snow to fall down easily. This design type can be either attached or freestanding, however it is usually not recommended attached except when your home’s design is very much similar to a gothic design.

6. Hoop greenhouse. This type of design is constructed with a metal pipe or PVC to make the hoop’s shape then enclosed with plastic covering. This type of design is very cost effective on your initial purchase, but the maintenance of continuously replacing the cover (plastic) can really add up.

One will find that the majority of greenhouses for sale are manufactured from aluminum material that is weatherproof and lightweight. Galvanized steel also is sturdy and lightweight. Wood can also be used, but one has to make sure to use a lumber that has been pressure treated such as redwood or cedar because these are weather resistant.

As to whatever greenhouse design should you decide on, be sure to look for a structure with the highest strength and stability and must have these features:

• Will be cable to endure extreme weather conditions, like very high winds and snowfall build up.

• Should have the necessary support for grow lights, sidewall shelving and hanging baskets.

• Should have an intricate detail of having hinged screened storm doors as well as large side or individual roof vents.

• A wide selection of styles and sizes offered. Keep in mind that costs can limit your greenhouse size, however extensions can later be added when needed and when you already have enough budget for it.

• The door may be easily adjusted to be dropped or lowered into the foundation’s opening so to get rid of an elevated step when you feel that it is needed.

Take note that often, most greenhouse owners complain of a limited space when they built their greenhouse on a budget. So whatever design you choose, just remember to get the largest that your money can buy.

Related Videos

PVC greenhouse in a day DIY
Step by step construction of a 14 x 42 foot temporary greenhouse structure using PVC piping and recycled materials investment about $300 and 14 Man Hours …

Share this:

Swallow Wooden Greenhouses

Swallow Greenhouses are manufactured in the north of England near Rotherham by skilled craftsmen who love the products they make. There is no question that a wooden greenhouse has a certain natural charm that aluminium greenhouses simply don’t. They tend to merge into the garden beautifully and look great in traditional flower gardens or very modern minimalist gardens, quality and style always shines through.
I’ve personally owned a number of wooden greenhouses in the past and found the timber quality to wanting as well as the fit and finish being unsatisfactory and certainly not made with longevity in mind. Swallow greenhouses though, I find, are the exception. These greenhouses are built to last without a shadow of a doubt.
Swallow greenhouses are made from tanalised redwood pine that is specifically sourced for it’s weather resistant qualities and is perfect for the delightful British weather !

Swallow Kingfisher Greenhouse

This greenhouse is the Kingfisher. It’s a 6ft wide timber greenhouse and Swallow’s best selling greenhouse by a distance. This is purely down to the fact that 6ft wide is the most practical size for most gardens as it’s easy to fit in. The Kingfisher has a whole host of neat features, such as:

Swallow Kingfisher 6ft x 10ft Greenhouse

Swallow also produce an 8ft wide greenhouse called the Swallow Raven. It has double doors and all of the standard features you’ll find on Swallow green houses (as above) such as toughened safety glass and automatic roof vents. The beauty of an 8ft wide greenhouse is the extra space inside, it gives you much more “working space” and room for more plants in tubs, pots, raised beds or grow bags. See the space inside in the picture below:

Swallow Raven Greenhouse

The Raven Greenhouse model is one of my favourite greenhouses, it’s great to look at and very practical as well. I love the look of the greenhouse but the size is the best thing. I’d be wanting an 8ft x 12ft and they come in at £2400, but that price includes installation so it’s pretty good really.

Swallow Raven 8×16 Greenhouse

Swallow Falcon Greenhouse

This is the largest Swallow timber model at 13ft wide. It’s great for those of us with big gardens and even garden centres and nurseries.

Of course, with a greenhouse of this size your options are greatly expanded in terms of what you can grow. For instance in this case with a 13ft wide greenhouse you’d be able to grow down both sides as well as down the centre of the greenhouse. This greenhouse would actually be ideal for schools or educational use where you’d need to have a number of people inside with space to work and learn.

Swallow Lean to Greenhouses

Swallow produce 3 different lean to greenhouse models in 4ft, 6ft and 8ft widths (out from the wall) with all of the standard features you find on their freestanding greenhouse models.

Swallow Finch Lean to Greenhouse

The Finch is the little 4ft (out from the wall) wide lean to from Swallow:

Swallow Dove Lean to Greenhouse

As you can see the Swallow Dove Lean to above has a custom “Lily White” paint job. Swallow paint the greenhouses in their factory spray booth in order to give the best paint finish possible rather than hand paint their greenhouses. The Dove features full toughened safety glass, slatted staging and locking door.
You can specify little extras like a high level shelf or side vent for extra ventilation.

Swallow Heron Lean to Greenhouse

The Swallow Heron Lean to is 8ft wide and the largest lean-to in the range:

Swallow T-Shaped Greenhouses

Swallow produce a lovely range of T-Shaped greenhouses that offer really practical growing space with a traditional greenhouse look. These award winning greenhouses are available from Greenhouse Stores.

Swallow Cygnet Greenhouse

The Cygnet greenhouse is Swallow’s 6ft wide T-Shaped greenhouse and a GLEE Award Winner in 2011. The Cygnet has a 2ft deep entrance porch and comes complete with guttering.

Swallow Kingfisher Greenhouse

The Swallow Kingfisher Greenhouse is the ultimate 6ft wide wooden greenhouse. It’s constructed from tanalised redwood pine timber to the highest standards we’ve ever seen in a wooden greenhouse product. These greenhouses are made in the UK by skilled individuals with a passion for producing quality products.

Swallow Kingfisher 6ft x 10ft Greenhouse

The Kingfisher boasts some superb standard features such as Redwood Pine tanalised timber, an inward opening door with a proper mortise lock and a full length of slatted staging down one side of the greenhouse. When looking around this greenhouse you are instantly struck by it’s completeness. Aluminium greenhouses are great, and they require little or no maintenance, but they do have a feeling of being a kit. These wooden greenhouses don’t feel like that at all, they feel solid and complete as they are built to include everything a keen greenhouse gardener could ever need. Once you walk inside through the door with it’s solid mortise lock, straight away there is a full length of timber slatted staging on the left hand side, with a smaller eye level shelf for more handy storage space. The roof vents are fitted with Bayliss XL automatic roof vents to open them once the greenhouse becomes too humid so that you don’t even need to be there to keep your plants properly ventilated.

The Kingfisher is glazed with British Standard Toughened Safety Glass for safety and superb wind resistance and sealed in place all round with clear silicone sealant. The standard finish of the Kingfisher is plain tanalised timber which is already perfectly weatherproof and pleasing on the eye, however Swallow offer the greenhouse in a number of different paint finishes. The greenhouse is available in 2 different greens, a brown and in a stunning white colour. Along with colour choices the Swallow Kingfisher is available in a wide range of sizes from 6×4 all the way up to 6×20 for those of us with larger gardens.

Swallow wooden greenhouses are unique also in that when you buy one, the delivery and installation is included in the price, taking away any worry about erecting the greenhouse yourself. Swallow Kingfisher Greenhouses are available from Greenhouse Stores here: Swallow Kingfisher Greenhouses at Greenhouse Stores

This is the mighty Swallow Falcon Greenhouse from Swallow GB in the north of England. Swallow make the finest timber greenhouses available today from high grade tanalized redwood pine. The Falcon is a large 13ft wide greenhouse that’s great for those of us with a larger garden and ideal for semi commercial use.

Swallow Swan 13ft x 25ft Wooden Greenhouse

Swallow Falcon Standard Features:

The Falcon like all Swallow timber greenhouses is packed with standard features that you simply won’t find on other wooden greenhouses.

All glazing slides into grooves and secured and sealed with high grade silicone

Full length of slatted staging to one side

20mm Black PVC Damp Barrier at Base

Swallow Swan Greenhouse Optional Features:

High Level Shelf:

Swallow Staging Bench with Shelf:

Black Ornate Door Handles:

Swallow Falcon 13ft Wide Wooden Greenhouse

This big greenhouse from Swallow really is the absolute business, I love it. It’s such an impressive structure to behold from outside, but standing inside the Falcon is when it hits you. It’s huge ! It comes with slatted staging all down one side but you can add a high shelf and a length of staging down the other side.
The real beauty of having a greenhouse of this width though, is the ability to grow down the middle of the greenhouse as well as both sides. It’s as simple as adding some freestanding benches like the one above or building some long tables yourself which is pretty easy.

Inside a Swallow Falcon in Spring Time

The toughened glass that we find as standard on the Swallow Falcon is safe and heavy giving the greenhouse real stability in strong winds which in the UK is definitely required ! Another great standard feature on Swallow greenhouses is that every roof vent is fitted with an automatic roof vent opener to open your roof vents without you having to be anywhere near your greenhouse, which is rather handy. Swallow use the best Autovents available, the Bayliss XL autovent.

Inside the Swallow Falcon 13ft wide greenhouse.

Swallow Falcon Greenhouse Sizes

The Swallow Falcon is available in the following sizes:

Swallow Swan 13ft x 12ft Greenhouse

Swallow Swan 13ft x 18ft Greenhouse

Swallow Swan 13ft x 125ft Greenhouse

Swallow Swan 13ft x 31ft Greenhouse

Swallow Swan 13ft x 37ft Greenhouse

If you are in the market for a large greenhouse and fancy a hand made wooden greenhouse that includes installation in your garden as part of the price then the Swallow Falcon Greenhouse could be the greenhouse for you !

Swallow Falcon 13ft x 25ft Greenhouse

The Swallow Falcon Greenhouse is available in the UK from Swallow greenhouse specialists, Greenhouse Stores. Visit Greenhouses Stores by clicking HERE or call them on 0800 098 8877

Swallow Swan Greenhouse

The Swallow Swan Greenhouse is the latest T-Shaped greenhouse from Swallow GB. This is the biggest T-Shaped wooden greenhouse offered by Swallow with a gable width of 8ft 9″ as well as a grand entrance porch of the same width with inward opening double doors.

This is a real “feature greenhouse” that visitors to your garden will compliment time and time again. The Swan has all of the features of a traditional brick wall greenhouse with the added advantage of being made by hand in a very modern UK factory. Each Swallow Greenhouse is made to order, there’s no stock lying around waiting to be ordered, only greenhouses being made freshly for individual customers and their gardens. Freshly squeezed British manufacturing, lovely !

Swallow Swan T-Shaped Greenhouse

Note: The above photo shows a Swallow Swan Greenhouse built upon a brick “dwarf wall”. As standard the Swan is built upon a boarded base. You will be emailed a detailed wall plan once you order your new greenhouse that a good builder will use to quote you, then build you a beautiful wall !

Swallow Swan Standard Features

Tanalised Redwood Pine

Toughened Safety Glass

Bayliss XL Automatic Roof Vents

Guttering System

2 Corner Slatted Staging

Copper Roof Gutter Channels

Double Locking Doors

FREE INSTALLATION

Swallow Swan Front returned staging in entrance porch.

Swallow offer a range of custom paint finishes for all of their greenhouses that are applied in their factory spray booth. The application of 2 to 3 coats of quality paint ensure an even and long lasting finish as well as a touch of individuality to your new greenhouse. It’s important to note however that these greenhouses don’t require painting to make them weatherproof, far from it. Because Swallow’s are built from tanalised Redwood Pine, meaning they are pressure treated they are perfectly hardy and element proof from the “get go” in any case, even for our British weather !

Grow Master 8×6

Greenhouse

Grow Master 8×6 Greenhouse

The new Grow Master 8×6 Greenhouse from Greenhouse Stores is the newest 8×6 greenhouse for gardeners and allotment holders alike. Built from an anodized aluminium frame that will always stay bright and shiny, the Grow Master Greenhouse is a little different from other 8×6 polycarbonate greenhouses in that there are no glazing W clips to be seen anywhere ! This of course is a good thing as these very clips can pop out during very windy conditions causing all sorts of problems, such as glazing panels being blown out. With the Grow Master this isn’t an issue at all as this greenhouse uses a new system where the glazing slides into channels within the actual aluminium greenhouse frame which are then sandwiched in place by aluminium slats. This is the most wind resistant polycarbonate greenhouse on the market, without a doubt and as a result very popular with allotment growers.

NEW – 8×6 Green Grow Master

The Grow Master comes with a galvanized steel silver base which has optional corner posts that can be buried into soft ground and then cemented into place, ideal if you don’t have a hard surface such as slabs or concrete on which to put your greenhouse. This feature is not available with any other 8×6 polycarbonate greenhouse.

Bracing throughout for STRENGTH

The Grow Master features extra bracing in the roof and corners to keep the greenhouse stable in windy conditions, essential if you live in an exposed spot.

grow master greenhouse roof bracing

A properly braced greenhouse is essential, especially in a poly glazed model. This is because polycarbonate is much lighter than glass meaning that more rigidity is needed from the frame as it isn’t coming from glass.

Grow Master Greenhouse corner bracing

Grow Master 6×6 Greenhouse

New for 2014 is the Grow Master in 6×6, with all of the features of the original 8×6 model.